


The Collector

by Rapidfyrez



Category: Warhammer 40.000, Worm - Fandom
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-12
Updated: 2019-12-14
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:28:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 15,552
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21764527
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rapidfyrez/pseuds/Rapidfyrez
Summary: Taylor has been cursed with a kleptomaniac robot skeleton living in her head. Shenanigans ensue.
Kudos: 38





	1. Prologue

**Prologue**

_Wednesday, June 1st, 2011_

“This is Armsmaster to Dispatch, I am en-route to location, ETA is five minutes.”

“Roger Armsmaster, Protectorate Capes are making their way to the rendezvous, they’ll meet you there.”

The armored hero closed communications and gunned the throttle on his motorcycle, the engine roaring to life as he shifted from civilian speed to emergency speed. The wind buffeted his exposed lower face, and he couldn’t help but think how the day had started remarkably peaceful; those were actually the norm now in Brockton Bay, as odd as it was to think about. Parahuman crime was at an all time low, the local economy was flourishing, and the city was slowly growing bigger than ever.

Being known as the city that killed Leviathan had been an incredible boost to reputation and support, though it honestly was far too late. Many of the issues that support could have solved, had already been dealt with some time ago. Truthfully, Armsmaster had been planning on transferring to another city now that Brockton Bay had stabilized, but of course, nothing could be that simple.

At approximately noon, reports had begun streaming in of a swarm of insects infesting the graveyard of ships. These had rapidly changed into calls about ships simply melting into grey goo, before panicked calls came in from across the city about the rapidly growing swarm that now blanketed the bay, and the constant tremors that shook the ground.

A check with Dragon had confirmed that no, Behemoth had made no movements as of late, which ruled him out. Armsmaster had doubted it, but it was always better to err on the side of caution. Realistically, given the description of the swarm, he knew exactly who was behind it. The only question was what trouble she was up to now.

Kicking his siren on, cars parted before his bike, and Armsmaster hit twice the standard highway speeds, which was as fast as he dared go through downtown. He quickly left the newly refurbished skyscrapers in his wake and sped by the Boardwalk, giving him a clear view of the bay.

The Swarm had moved from the grounded ships out over the ocean. A flick of his eyes caused the HUD on his helmet to zoom in and confirm that many of the smaller abandoned ships were being devoured at a rabid pace. He had seen them in action before, when they had stripped Lung of his armored scales and reduced Hookwolf to a blubbering shell of a man. Self replicating small scale machines, they were dubbed scarabs by the PRT due to their beetle like appearance. They weren’t particularly durable, but they replicated fast and reduce a car to scrap metal in minutes, before devouring the scraps.

Never had he ever seen them operate on such a scale, or so quickly. Even the super tanker, the ship that blocked nearly all of the bay entrance and had almost single handedly killed the shipping industry in Brockton bay, was visibly beginning to wilt. At the current rate of consumption, he estimated the entire ship graveyard would be cleared in ten minutes, twenty at the maximum.

The question now, was if their creator would stop them at the graveyard, or finally let them loose on the city. Armsmaster didn’t trust her or her supposed motives. Some people might say it was a deep seated jealousy in the superiority of her technology and how it had allowed her to do in half a year what he hadn’t been able to do in almost a decade. Those people needed to learn to shut their fucking faces.

Armsmaster shook the thought off and finally passed through the Docks to the edge of the ship graveyard. He had to skid to a stop, as a figure was standing at its edge, her long cape flowing in a nonexistent breeze. Stopping his bike, Armsmaster set it to standby and let the automated kickstand activate. With his engine rumbling to a stop, he could hear the almost deafening buzz of thousands if not millions of scarabs at work.

He ignored it and strode towards the figure, the woman, standing before him. “Phaerakh, what are you doing!?” he had to yell to hear himself over the swarm.

The woman turned to face him, emerald eyes flashing. Calling Phaerakh a woman was admittedly a broad assumption. Though she responded to female pronouns, the only sign of femininity was the slight curve to her legs, her wider hips, and a feminine facial structure. Her body was a dull gunmetal grey, shaped skeletal. Only her glowing eyes moved within the deep pits of her eye sockets, focusing on him in an instant.

Her body was decorated in dress that took influences from the Egyptians, the Mayans and the Babylonians. A large cylindrical headdress of green, gold, and grey rose from her skull, a flowing shroud falling from it in an imitation of silvery golden hair. A simple golden Usekh covered her neck and chest, with larger silver shoulder pads that rose from either side of it, trimmed with more gold. A long cape crafted of a thousand tiny metal scales fell from her shoulders to her thighs. A long strip of cloth hung from the front of her waist, with a wider set falling from her back, both halves were connected by golden clasps across her waist. In a word, she could best be described as ‘ostentatious’. Or gaudy, Armsmaster preferred that term.

Phaerakh’s eyes flashed with what he now recognized as amusement, and she thumped the glaive she held in her right hand against the stone. The emblem emblazoned where blade met half was of a single circle, with a line jutting from either end and stubbier ones from the sides. The top curved up in a U shape, the bottom remained flat with a single line cutting through it halfway down. Whatever the symbol meant, she had never elaborated and refused to do so.

“Armsmaster!” she greeted, loudly and happily. She spread an arm wide, “I’m so glad you could make it! You have arrived in time for the grand reveal!”

It was hard not to scowl behind his visor, the woman was… difficult for him to deal with. That she was an unashamed rogue did not help matters. The majority of her actions might have helped the city, but he knew all too well how close she had skated to disaster. She was as dangerous as she was powerful, which was a very high bar indeed.

“What is the game this time, Phaerakh? What are you trying to pull?” he demanded.

She paused, and thoughtfully stroked her chin, “I was under the impression that clearing the bay could only be seen as a universally good thing. Was I… mistaken, Armsmaster? Or did I stumble across another of your bureaucratic landmines?”

He ignored the jab and gestured at the swarm over head, “Everyone knows what your swarms can do Phaerakh. Seeing them let loose could incite a panic.”

At that, she mimed putting a hand to where her ear would be and listened intently. “Huh, would you listen to that? The city sounds quiet peaceful, if you ignore my scarabs at work.”

Armsmaster ground his teeth together and stabbed a finger at her, “Enough! We know about the tremors, what are you pulling!?”

She waggled a finger at him, “Ah ah ah! No spoilers until the rest of the Protectorate arrives. I want this to be as dramatically appropriate as possible, after all.”

Before he could start shouting again, she let out a small chuckle, covering the line that represented her with a free hand, “Ah! There’s the cavalry, right on schedule!”

A dozen armored vans came to a rolling stop in a half circle around the metal woman, doors flinging open before they had halted and troopers pouring out to surround her. The entire might of the Protectorate joined them: Miss Militia, Dauntless, Assault and Battery, Velocity and Triumph. Even the Wards had been brought to the frontlines, clearly visible on buildings overlooking their standoff: Vista, Kid Win, Aegis, Clockblocker and Gallant all stood at the ready, though they knew that of them only Aegis and Kid Win could be truly effective against Phaerakh.

Miss Militia walked up to Armsmaster, eyes reflecting caution, “Situation?”

“Its Phaerakh.” he replied bitterly.

Said woman was scanning the crowd, clearly amused by the sheer size of the response she had warranted. After a moments silence, she tapped her staff against the ground three times. With each tap, a hollow ‘boom’ shook the streets and the air. On the third, the swarm halted mid air like a thousand silver stars, and silence reigned.

Content, Phaerakh scratched her chin and let out another chuckle, “I am so very grateful that you were all so eager to show up for the grand unveiling! Truly, it is an honor to see the defenders of this city so interested in its history!”

When no one responded, and in fact the troopers visibly grew tenser, Phaerakh shook her head and closed her ‘eyes’. “Ah, but I see you have no patience for words. Very well, then allow my actions to speak for me!”

The sigil along her glaive blazed with brilliant light as she raised it over head with two hands and brought it down to the ground in an overhead swing that shook the earth to its foundation. Armsmaster’s armor steadied himself, and he caught Miss Militia as she stumbled. The formation scattered, and the swarm began to move again.

In a wave of shimmering silver and flashing emerald, they crashed into the ground behind her. Clouds of dirt fountained into the air as the scarabs quickly and voraciously devoured the land behind her; and as the seconds ticked by, the tremors returned, far more violent and consistent than they had been before.

The ground fractured and split the PRT and Protectorate forces down the middle, forcing them to either side as a chasm grew along the street. Old buildings, long abandoned by their owners collapsed under their own weight and decay. The street buckled and bent, reduced to blackened ruble as… something began to rise from the ground.

Necrotic energy erupted into the sky, shadowing Phaerakh with its glow. Her cape whipped around her excitedly, but she remained unmoving despite the miniature cataclysm that had overtaken the graveyard. Tendrils broke off from the main swarm, devouring debris as it was casually flung aside, and then quickly returning to the main body.

With each second, the old graveyard was gone revealing something new and utterly alien.

Smooth geometric shapes rose from the earth, all connected to a structure that quickly revealed its size as large if not larger than any skyscraper in the city. A pyramid of empty blackness, capped with an emerald stone, rose ever higher into the air, crackling with necrotic energy. The swarm poured over its sides, rapidly clearing the dust and sealing any cracks that may have formed in its violent eruption.

New blackstone paths connected to a colossal entryway as large as a three story building and flanked by obelisks that shadowed braziers of burning green fire. Massive stone doors groaned in protest as they were pushed open, revealing an interior bathed in faint green light.

And like that, the rumbling stopped.

At some point in all the commotion, Armsmaster had been knocked off his feet despite his armors best attempts at compensation. He had to push himself from the ground and gaze up at this massive construct, unable to completely suppress the awe he felt. It truly dwarfed any building in the city, perhaps any building along the east coast. The swarm that had once seemed so large and all consuming was dwarfed by its sheer size, flickering between obelisks and pillars that arose from around the building. All of them were made of that same blackstone that crackled with lines of green energy.

The remaining PRT and Protectorate forces slowly got back to their feet, to see Phaerakh looking at them with clear amusement. She stepped to the side and gestured into the building. “If you would follow me please. You have my word that no harm shall come to you or your city whilst you are within my new home.”

That was...tempting. On the handful of occasions that she had given her word, Phaerakh had never broken it. Her word was her bond, and if it was given out, she would do her best to fulfill her promise to the letter.

Still…

“Remain out here.” Armsmaster ordered the rest of the assembled forces. “Miss Militia and I will see what it is Phaerakh wishes to show us. If we don’t call in the all clear within fifteen minutes, assume the worst.”

Trying to be subtle was pointless; Armsmaster had learned long ago that no encryption save maybe Dragon’s could protect his transmissions from Phaerakh. If she wanted to know what he said to the others, she would know whether he consented or not.

Miss Militia stepped up beside him and the two of them walked up to Phaerakh. The iron maiden bowed her head and her eyes flashed again with amusement. She gestured for them to enter first. Armsmaster exchanged a look with Miss Militia, and then took the first step into the pyramid.

When nothing happened, he took another step, and another. The only sound aside from the hum of the swarm, was the sound of his heavy footsteps and the crackle of energy. He turned back to Miss Militia and nodded. The two of them entered Phaerakh’s pyramid together, with her following behind them both.

Surprisingly, the doors did not ominously slam shut behind them, but instead remained open even as they descended within its depths. The tunnel was not simply a straight line. On several occasions it split into multiple paths that Phaerakh guided them down. Though Armsmaster’s systems kept track of their route, it didn’t take long for it to become very complicated and very long. A quick escape was not in the cards, if it ever had been to begin with.

After several minutes of silent walking, Miss Militia spoke up. “How long have you been working on this? And what is its purpose?”

Phaerakh tapped her chin. “Six months. Most of my swarm has been dedicated to building this structure beneath the city. As for its purpose, well, it’s quite simple Miss Militia. What you are standing in is no less than the beginning of what may well be my life’s work. A monument to honor my mentor, the one who blessed me with the knowledge I possess today.”

As she spoke, Phaerakh’s voice grew more excited and her pace sped up until she passed them both. “Though he was taken from me, I have not forgotten what he did for me, and so I have sought to honor him in the only way he would appreciate. And it is with that, Armsmaster and Miss Militia, that I welcome you to the beginning of my carefully curated collection!”

With that, the walls suddenly… vanished. One moment they were there, the next they simply… disappeared. Armsmaster had to wonder if the long walk was necessary, or if Phaerakh had simply been building up to the most appropriate moment for, as she said, ‘a dramatic reveal’.

Unfortunately, it worked.

Armsmaster froze as he and Miss Militia suddenly found themselves in a truly massive… well, museum was the only way to describe it. Expertly arranged exhibits were carved into the wall in layers upon layers. Many of them were empty, but he could see a dozen or more already filled with familiar faces.

Kaiser, leader of the Empire Eighty Eight in full armor giving a speech to an assembled band of neo-nazi’s, Oni-Lee and one of his clones doing battle against Kaiser’s twin bodyguards, and Bakuda standing over a miniature city in flaming ruin, bombs in hand. But despite all of that, what caught Armsmasters attention, and truly terrified him, was the center piece of this ‘museum’. Three plinths dominated the center of the room, two of them empty.

But, the one closest to them, forever frozen in time, was the form of the endbringer Leviathan. And though its body could not move, all four of its eyes were clearly and plainly focused on them, alive and furious.


	2. Traveling 1.1

** Traveling ** **1.1**

  
_‘We must not let the relics of antiquity be broken and crushed by the savagery of unenlightened creatures, for only by understanding these treasures may we conquer the future. Only we, who have broken free from the shackles of mortality and bound the infinite majesty of the cosmos to our will, can be trusted with this task. That is why we are here, on this wretched pit of a planet. Eliminate these mortals as you see fit, but do try to keep the collateral damage to a minimum.’_   


  * Trazyn the Infinite



_Date: Unknown. Location: Unknown  
  
A sea of metal, a world of unblinking emerald eyes. All stood before her, bowed in supplication to her authority. Her hands of living metal tightened, one gouging into a throne of empty blackstone, the other around her scepter. Ancient, powerful, it was her legacy made manifest, her wrath and her mercy. Those who were her enemies would tremble before it, those her allies would bow in respect before it.  
  
Before her.  
  
“Mistress.” said a voice to her right.  
  
Her eyes flicked towards its source, another construct of steel and iron, bowed in service just as her armies were. She waved a dismissive hand, bidding that the servant speak.   
  
“Your armies stand ready. At your word, they shall march upon the world. By your word, they shall scourge this land of all life, burn these wretched and hateful creatures till nought but atoms remain. Oceans will boil, the earth shall scream, and all will know your wrath.”  
  
She remained silent, not even deigning to look at the servant. He spoke again.  
  
“Perhaps then you do not desire extermination? Conquest then; bring order to the orderless, unite the warring peoples of this planet. Rule with ironclad tyranny, for your word is law. Any who would defy your authority will be dealt with like the animals they are. Would this please you, mistress?”  
  
A sigh, a breath she did not need. In one fluid motion, she arose from her throne and stamped her scepter against the smooth floor. “Do not presume to know what I want or desire, creature. My actions and will are mine alone, and you shame yourself with these petty attempts at manipulation.”  
  
She gave no time for it to mutter out apologies and further pledges of fealty. A sweep of her arm, and as one the sea of metal arose. Uncountable, undefinable, thousands upon thousands of arms clapped to iron chests in gestures of fealty. Were she still capable, she would smile.  
  
“Today! On this day, we will not purge this world. We will not conquer this world. No, today we march in preservation of all that walks upon this world. This world is _mine _, and by my will I shall see it flourish as it is! Go my armies, march forward and let neither friend nor foe stop you!”  
  
And so it was, that iron and steel marched forward, as time marches forward. The world would know their power and the futility of conflict against them. After all, they were no enemy to fight; no, you could not fight the inevitable._  
  


*******

  
_Monday, January 10th, 2011. Brockton Bay_  
  
My eyes snapped open, and I bolted straight up from the concrete and nearly slammed my head into the face of the concerned man standing over me. He yelled and stumbled back, a look of surprise and concern on his face.  
  
“Oh my god, are you okay?”  
  
I was breathing hard, my heart hammering against my ribcage, and my entire skull felt like it was on fire. Aside from that though, I felt fine. I slumped forward and ran my hands over my face. “Oh my god, what happened?” I mumbled.  
  
“No idea,” the man said. “I saw you rushing down the sidewalk and then you collapsed when a car went by. I think it might’ve kicked up a rock or something and smacked you in the head? No idea.”  
  
The man sounded nice, and I looked up at him through my hands. Plain, middle aged man, a little on the dumpy side with tired eyes. He didn’t look like one of the local gangers, but that wasn’t a guarantee for anything in this town, not anymore.   
  
“How long was I out?” I asked cautiously.  
  
The man shrugged, “Only a minute or two, you were breathing the whole time. Do you need me to call an ambulance?”  
  
I shook my head and slowly got to my feet while gathering up my school supplies. He was nice enough to help me gather them up and handed them to me. I smiled my thanks and swung my backpack over my shoulder. Now that I was settled, I could remember what I had been doing before… whatever the hell that weird dream was. I had slept past my alarm and missed my bus, forcing me to take another route to school that dropped me off a block from Winslow. I had been running for it, when a car passed me and… that weird dream had started.  
  
That was strange, I had no memory of actual passing out. Of course, I’d never been knocked out before, so I didn’t exactly have a lot of experience with it, but I figured there’d be a fuzzy memory left over or something. Chalk it up to another lie from Hollywood, go figure.  
  
“Are you sure you’re okay, miss?”  
  
I shook my head, “TI’m fine I think. Do you have the time?” I asked.  
  
The man glanced at his phone, “Sure, it's… about 7:27.”  
  
I cursed, “I’m going to be late! Thanks for the help mister, but I need to go!”  
  
He didn’t even have time to call after me, I was already running down the street. The pounding of my feet on the concrete did no favors for the dull ache in my skull, and I had to slow down less than a minute later. I made a mental note to visit the nurse at school when I got there; maybe I could get an excused absence for a medical emergency. Wouldn’t that be something?  
  
Winslow High came into view as I debated possible excuses I could add to my medical absence, and its appearance did nothing to ease my headache. It was an ugly three story building that somehow managed to look squat in spite of this. Graffiti covered the edges of its concrete edifice, the lawn was an ugly shade of brown, and some of the windows were so filthy you couldn’t even see out of them. Most of the students that were bothering to show up were already inside, leaving only me and a few stragglers to march up the stairs.  
  
 _‘Well, I can’t say I’ve ever seen a disappointment given physical form, but this would certainly come close.’_ A voice said from behind me.  
  
I stopped and whirled around, preparing for the worst. But aside from a student or two that gave me weird looks, there was no one behind me. Okay, I was admittedly a bit paranoid, but after nearly two years of constant bullying, anyone would have grown a bit jumpy.  
  
 _‘At least you have some common sense.’_ the voice, again, said from behind me.  
  
I whirled toward the front of the school, and rubbed at my head when I saw the steps now empty. ‘ _Get it together Taylor,’_ I thought to myself, _‘you’re not going crazy. Just drop off your assignments in your locker, and then head to the nurse, get that sick leave and get the hell out of here.’  
  
‘Yes, _Taylor _, the sooner the better, please.’_ said the Voice.  
  
I pretended not to hear it and rushed inside.  
  
The halls were predictably crowded with students rushing to and fro as they prepared for the first classes of the day. The din of conversation was practically deafening. I thought I had learned to deal with the noise a while ago, but today it set my teeth on edge and smacked me over the head like I owed it money.   
  
It took an effort not to cover my ears as I slowly pushed my way through the crowds. Just get to the locker, and then go to the nurse. This was my mantra, what kept me going even while my head attempted to pull itself apart. At least I had lost the Voice.  
  
 _‘Oh wonderful, truly this is a perfect expenditure of our_ limited _time.’_ it piped up.  
  
No direction to source it from that time, too many students. And to be completely honest, I was fairly certain that the voice didn’t belong to anyone. I wondered, could a concussion give someone hallucinations?  
  
 _‘Don’t flatter yourself, child. You are nowhere near creative enough for something like that_. _’_ the Voice said dryly.  
  
“Fuck. Off.” I hissed between clenched teeth. I could see my locker now, many students giving it a wide berth.  
  
I started to wonder why, when the first bell rang. Now I knew how a nail felt, because each ring was like a hammer to my skull. I clutched my head and stopped in place while students streamed around me and towards their next classes. My only relief was that the Voice had gone silent for the moment.  
  
But, I needed real silence, just for a minute. Getting to class on time didn’t matter, I could afford to take my time getting to the nurses office. The only motivation I had for moving faster, was the fear that _they_ might still be wandering the halls. The Trio, the bitches, the pains in my ass since the ninth grade. Traitors, bullies, monsters, whatever you wanted to call them, I did not need nor want to put up with them this morning.  
  
I scanned the hallas I suddenly banked right and headed for the nearest bathroom. There was no sign of them as I reached and slammed open the girls bathroom door. I walked up to and leaned against the kitchen sink, soaking in the sweet silence. My head still throbbed uncomfortably, but it was a dull and constant pain, which was easier to deal with than the sharp spikes I’d been experiencing in the hall.  
  
My reflection stared back at me in the mirror. I didn’t care to lament my plain appearance, pausing only for a moment to readjust my glasses and push a few strands of dark curly hair out of my face. I took a deep breath, stood up, and turned to leave.  
  
I walked straight into the face of a gleaming metal skull, staring at me with intense emerald eyes that _burned_ with some sort of unnatural energy. I screamed and stumbled back, landing on my butt and almost hitting the sink with the back of my head. Thankfully, I only had to add butt pain to my head trauma, but that was an unimportant detail.  
  
“Oh my, that looked like it hurt.” the Voice said, only this time I knew where it came from.  
  
I jerked my head up at the metal skull, and saw what it was attached to. Fear pulsed in my veins and I started scrambling backwards away from this… thing that had appeared behind me.  
  
It was tall, seven feet maybe eight. Either way, it had to lean significantly to get in my face like it had. Its skull wasn’t a perfect anatomical recreation of an actual skull, taking the shape of a mask more than anything else. Its body was made of gleaming metal that almost seemed to pulse in the pail light. A long cloak of interlocking metal plates fell from its shoulders, and a hood shaped structure protected its skull. It held an ornate staff in its hand but clearly had no need of it aside from decorative purposes.  
  
This… thing, this giant metal skeleton man, took one look at me cowering under the sink, and pinched the space between its eyes and sighed. “Child, please stop embarrassing the both of us and come out from under there. We have much to talk about and little time to talk about it.”  
  
I stared at the robotic skeleton; the gears in my head were slowly turning, but the emphasis was on slow. A thought finally occurred to me. The Voice, the robot, it had a british accent. I don’t know why this suddenly occurred to me, but when it did, I think I felt something snap in my brain.  
  
:A crazed noise, not quite a laugh and not quite a sob, broke free of my lips. “British robot.” I cracked.  
  
“Haha! Giant… british… robot. In my head.” I grabbed at my head, and felt my eye twitch.  
  
Then whatever had snapped in my head promptly snapped back into place. I promptly stood, shouldered my backpack and said, “Nope. No no no, nah ah, no.”  
  
If I didn’t know any better, the robots glowing eyes almost seemed to narrow. If this was a sign of amusement, insult, or annoyance, I didn’t know or care. I was so absolutely done with this travesty I called a life.  
  
“Nope nope nope. No. No!”  
  
The door to the bathroom opened. The trio walked in, they said something at me. I ignored them and made for the door.  
  
“No no no, nope!” I didn’t even pause, I pushed right past them. One of them grabbed at my backpack, and I let it go. I went straight out the door, back into the now empty hall, and headed for the exit. The entire time, I simply kept muttering a string of negatives; I felt like I was going to start laughing and start crying at the same time.  
  
I left Winslow without a second thought and headed to the nearest bus stop home. The handful of people there kept their distance from me. I in turn, kept my distance from them even as I continued to mutter, “No, absolutely not, no way, nope. No no no no no.”  
  
The bus came, I stepped aboard. No one sat near me either.  
  
“Nope, nope, nope!”  
  
Half an hour later, I was walking up to my house again, still muttering to myself. My home was once a nice two story suburban building. Strong stable walls painted a cheery light blur, decent front porch and lawn, even an old tree growing out front. Age and the decay of the city had not been kind to its structure, but it was still home. I followed the path to the front porch, almost tripped over the broken step, and walked inside.   
  
The skelebot was standing in the living room, glaring at me.  
  
“Nope!” I declared, and went straight up the stairs, and took a hard right into my room, and promptly collapsed face first onto my bed. I embraced sleep minutes later, still muttering my denial of what was clear insanity.  
  
I woke back up hours later staring at my nightstand clock. It was almost noon, I’d been asleep four a good four hours. Good news, the pain in my skull had melted away, and I could think a bit more clearly. Bad news, Skeletor was still standing in my room, glaring daggers at me.  
  
“You are quite fortunate that I am unable to interact with you physically, or I would have dragged you off your bed by that mess of a mane you call hair hours ago.”  
  
Yawn. I rolled onto my back and stretched, “Buddy, I’ve been the center of a very personal terror campaign for two years. If you’re trying to get under my skin, you’ll need better material than that.  
  
The skeleton loomed over me. I ignored it the best I could, until it spoke again. “You don’t quite comprehend the situation you’re in, child. I am not some figment of your imagination, I am very much a real and corporeal being.”  
  
I reached out and waved a hand through him. “Poor choice of words there buddy. And anyway, you could say whatever you want, but a hallucination is a hallucination. If I’ve snapped, then you’ll just say whatever crazy crap runs through my head until you start looping.”  
  
“The insane do not typically recognize their insanity, I would know,” said the skeleton.  
  
“Clearly I’m a special case.” I replied casually.  
  
The skeleton bent at the waist, casting that eerie green glow over my body. “Or, you’re aware on some level that I am _not_ a hallucination. You know I am very real, and represent something that you know nothing of. This entire attitude of yours is an act, a layer of defense to protect yourself from admitting that fact.”  
  
I opened my mouth, but it interrupted me. “Don’t deny it. Our minds are linked now, unfortunately. My personality, what’s left of it, is occupying only a very small portion of your cerebral cortex at the moment. From there I can read your every thought, emotion, and action you take. I am privy to your deepest darkest fears, and your greatest hopes; I must say, I am quite unimpressed.”  
  
It wanted to play that way? Fine.  
  
I pushed myself up and folded my arms, glaring up at the skeletal droid. “Fine then, prove it. Prove to me that you’re not some result of my fucked up head finally snapping under the stress. Then, maybe, we can have a civil conversation.”  
  
At that, I could very clearly see amusement in the machines eyes. It even scratched at its chin in such a way that its fingers made a smile. “Oh, I am quite far ahead of you in that game my dear. If you would look to your left please?”  
  
I humored it and did so. Then I did a double take and stared at the object floating behind my window. It was about a foot long from end to end, made of that same silver metal my mental visitor was. It had six long talon like legs, three jutting from either side of its oval shaped body. A short little head with a pair of pincers emerged from one end, with a lone emerald ‘eye’ in the center of it.   
  
This thing looked for all the world like a giant flying beetle, and it began tapping at my window when I saw it. I got up and opened the window before it started leaving marks. The little machine floated inside and set itself on my bed with its legs tucked under its belly and looked up at me with its big eye.  
  
My legs felt weak and I collapsed back onto my bed. The beetle continued staring at me unblinking. Its eye followed my hand as I reached out and touched it. The metal was surprisingly warm to the touch, hard and unyielding, and yet I could feel almost a… softness to its frame, as though if I pushed hard enough the metal would mold to my hand like clay.  
  
“That would be a result of your connection to me.” said my visitor, making me jump. “Necrodermis doesn’t respond to the whims of lesser races, but our connection makes it more… malleable under your touch.”  
  
I looked at the giant metal man, with his stupidly huge staff, overly elaborate decoration and burning green eyes. Then I looked back to the beetle that watched me but made no movement. A sense of very real dread slowly filled me, and I could feel the blood draining from my face.  
  
The skeleton was radiating smugness when I turned back to him, shaken. “U-um… so, Mr. Skeleton. What brings you to Brockton Bay?”  
  
It raised a finger, “Firstly, my name is not ‘Mr. Skeleton’, ‘Skeletor’, or ‘Mr. Roboto’. If you wish for me to treat you with more respect, I expect the same courtesy, Taylor Hebert.”  
  
I swallowed and nodded, “Okay. What do I call you then?”  
  
Its eyes glimmered and it said, “I am Trazyn the Infinite. 737th son of the Solemence Dynasty, Grand Archeovist and Overlord of its many archives, and as for why I am hear, Taylor Hebert; well, _that_ is quite an interesting story.   
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I had originally started this chapter with a bit showing how Trazyn showed up on Earth Bet, but after discussing it with my editor, we both decided that dedicating his own chapter to it would be a much better way to handle it. So next chapter is from Trazyn's perspective as we find out exactly why he's on Earth Bet and what kind of predicament he's dragged Taylor into. Hope I didn't make Taylor too out of character, and for those unsure, yes she did avoid the locker incident thanks to Trazyn's interference.
> 
> Feel free to leave your thoughts and opinions where necessary. See you tomorrow.


	3. Traveling 1.2

**Traveling 1.2**

  
_Thanatos, Necron Crownworld, 999.M41_  
  
Allow me first to provide context, if I may. Without it, my tale my prove terrible confusing for your inexperienced minds to comprehend.  
  
 _Wait, minds? What?  
  
Shhh, let me speak._  
  
As I was saying, context is very important for why and how I arrived here in my current situation. Despite the superficial appearance of my frame to your human skeletal structure, I am not nor have I ever been human. I am necron, formerly necrontyr. Over sixty million years ago, my people shed our biological forms in the furnace of bio-transference and assumed new metal forms such as the one you see before you today. The how and why are ultimately irrelevant to my story; all that is important is that once I was organic as you are, and now I exist as immortal living metal.  
  
While many of my brothers and sisters of the necron have taken up arms in quests for power, territory, or a return to glory, my purpose has always been far greater and more important. For you see, I am but a humble archivist; I collect and preserve relics from across the known galaxy so that their history may be saved for future generations to learn from. The unfortunate reality of immortality, however, is that time still moves forward, and thus my collection is ever growing.  
  
So it is that I have spent much of my immortal existence traveling the stars and negotiating for the acquirement and storage of important artifacts. It is rewarding work, important work as well. But the eons can grow long and stifling, and even I found myself one day experiencing an emotion I have not felt for quite some time.   
  
Boredom.  
  
For you see, Taylor Hebert, I had fallen into a bit of a rut. In my galaxy, war is eternal and quite the grim affair. A hundred factions vie for control over the fate of the galaxy, including my own people. Thus this has lead to a rather predictable state of affairs. Conflict explodes in one arm of the galaxy, word reaches me upon my Tomb World, and I mobilize to acquire any relics of important value before they are inevitably destroyed in said conflict. Repeat ad nauseum for ten thousand years, and _anyone_ would beg for a change of pace.  
  
Most recently, my attempt at negotiating for an ancient relic from a group of warriors known as ‘the Salamanders’,(yes quite creative wouldn’t you agree?) had ended in abject failure. I rested and recuperated my thoughts upon the bridge of one of my many smaller starships as I began the long return back to Solemence. Recovering this artifact, which you may call the Speak of Vulkan, had been a very long process, several centuries in the making. Negotiations had broken down at the last minute, and the warriors had sent me away with a fresh hole in my chassis for my trouble.  
  
Rest assured, my body is more than durable enough to recover from such a trifling injury. But my mind, my mind lay battered and tired. For eons I have followed this repetitive pattern, hunting for artifacts to expand my collection. I could never truly abandon such an important quest of course, but that did not mean that I wished to recover relics that were only suited for war, or all came from the same source.  
  
Thus, I came to a revelation of sorts. I was in desperate need of a holiday, a change of scenery from the humdrum everyday life of war and death that my galaxy has devolved into. It was such an obvious solution in hindsight, that had eluded me for so long! Already, I felt reinvigorated simply for coming to this conclusion, and immediately ordered my fleet to alter its course to the necron Crownworld of Thanatos, home of the Oruscar Dynasty.   
  
Understand dear child, that those of the Oruscar Dynasty are amongst the few of my brothers and sisters that I would truly count as equals. Instead of seeking war and glory, they had sought to leave their mark on history through the advancement and betterment of their people. Their world is one of miraculous technology, even by our standards. But there was only one treasure that interested me, the crown jewel of all the Oruscar Dynasty has achieved.   
  
The Celestial Orrery.   
  
The Orrery is quite simply, the greatest achievement any race could possibly lay claim to. It is a perfectly accurate rendition of the galaxy. Let me explain, it is not simply a meticulously accurate map or model. No, the Orrery’s accuracy and attention to detail is to a level that defies any and all mortal imagination. Any changes brought upon the Orrery will be reflected upon the galaxy itself, and the reverse is true as well.  
  
 _That sounds made up.  
  
Quiet, it’s not._  
  
Obviously, such power if abuse could very easily destroy the galaxy, and so the Oruscar have dedicated the entire might of their dynasty to its defense. Few have ever seen the Orrery in person; only the mightiest of Overlords could ever hope to be granted an audience with it and only under the closest of supervision. So of course, they would have no complaint about allowing myself a chance to view it.  
  
In fact, they were delighted by my visit to their many orbital docks. Why, the Phaeron himself met me as I exited my ship with his entire personal guard in tow! I must say, I have received many warm welcomes, but this was certainly unexpected, even for one of my reputation.  
  
I of course bowed respectfully, as such an important Phaeron deserved my respect. He was though, a very terse fellow, not prone to pleasantries, which was a pity, but given the duty thrust upon him by his dynasty, it was not unexpected.  
“Trazyn the Infinite.” he said. “You’ve brought yourself to Thanatos without invitation, without warning. Why?”  
  
If there is one flaw to the state of my current being, it is the lack of proper facial features. A reassuring smile can do wonders for assuaging the fears of others you see. I had to make an effort instead to spread my arms and remain bowed as I spoke. “Why, my noble Hakmephet, I have come with a simple request; a favor, if you will.”  
  
I must say, Hakmephet had turned his stoic mannerisms into an artform, I could barely read him. It was clear though that I had peaked his curiosity. “The Oruscar do not deliver ‘favors’ to anyone, Trazyn. Especially not thieves and scoundrels such as yourself.”  
  
I held a hand to my chest, conveying the hurt I felt at such an insult. “My dear Phaeron, you wound me. I am many things, but scoundrel? I am nothing but polite and courteous to all that I do business with.”  
  
Hakmephet stabbed a finger at me, quite rudely I might add, and retorted with, “Wherever you go, trouble follows. I will not allow you to curse Thanatos with your presence; begone!”  
  
 _Oh yeah, you seem to have a lovely reputation.  
  
Must you interrupt me constantly with your ceaseless commentary?  
  
Yes._  
  
“Hakmephet, at the very least hear my request? One as mighty and wise as yourself could surely spare but a moment to hear the words of a humble Overlord? All I wish is to seek your assistance in finding world untouched by the current conflict. I’ve grown bored with the galaxy as is you see and wish to, temporarily, retire from galactic politics.”  
  
The Phaeron stiffened, and I could hear power thrumming around him. Clearly he had not considered that someone as studious as I to require a break from my work. Such is the downside of cultivating such a legendary reputation I suppose.  
  
After a moment of silence, he spoke again, quieter this time. “You… wish to leave the galaxy?”  
  
I shook my head, “No no no. I wish to remove myself from galactic politics; for a decade or two. If I enjoy my holiday, I may even consider a century. It is a bit of a spur of the moment decision I admit.”  
  
Amusingly, this truly seemed to stun the Phaeron. He rested a hand on his head and looked at me, visibly dazed. The gears within his mechanical brain were clearly working overtime at my words.   
  
Finally, he resumed his original posture, and clapped his hands together with a metallic clang. One of his high crypteks, a master of the scientific arts you see, materialized beside his lord in a flash of emerald light, bowed in proper supplication.  
  
“Yes, Phaeron Hakmephet?”  
  
“Bring Overlord Trazyn to the Celestial Orrery. Assist him in finding whatever it is he is in search of, so long as it does not disturb the natural order of the galaxy. And ensure he is under constant guard at all times. These are my orders to you Cryptek, am I understood?”  
  
“Completely, my master.”  
  
The cryptek turned to me and bowed, “Lord Trazyn. This way, if you would.”  
  
I will spare you the details, as the distance traveled from docking bay to Orrery is quite dull. Needless to say, with the weight of Phaeron Hakmephet words hanging over them, the Cryptek and their guards spirited me to the Orrery at a refreshing pace. I found myself within its incredible lattice within hours of my initial arrival at Thanatos.   
  
There was just one problem. For as vast as the galaxy is, in its billions upon billions of star systems… it was impossible to find a singular world within it that was both worthy of note and not embroiled in war. Oh sure there were planets free from the chain of battle, but such worlds were dull and unimportant to begin with! I briefly toyed with the notion of retiring to one of the Imperium’s agricultural worlds and setting myself up as an enigmatic ghost to haunt the primitives legends for generations to come, but found that such a gambit would only be mildly amusing and hardly worth spending an entire vacation on.  
  
It was frustrating, in the worst possible way. We spent days, under careful guard, cataloguing a thousand known worlds with none living up to my standards. By the seventh day, my patience had worn thin.  
  
“You have done well in serving your master, Cryptek.” I know not what it’s name was, as such details were only important to those within the Oruscar Dynasty. It did not seem to mind, but did seem disturbed by my statement.  
  
“Lord Trazyn, I am certain we can find what you are seeking. Understand, the breadth of the galaxy is truly astounding and there are many, _many_ worlds to sift through. The process will simply take time to…”  
I ignored the Cryptek as it spoke, thinking over what else I knew of Oruscar’s treasures. There was the Glyph of Dominance of course, a powerful seal of power and one of the first examples of Oruscar’s technological might. An important relic that certainly needed preservation. But not what I was looking for.  
  
The Quantum Loom, the Gravity Sling, none of these relics would fulfill the purpose that I desired. But then, insight struck! There was one relic, completed at the same time as the Orrery and thus forgotten by many as its purpose paled in comparison to the sheer power of the Orrery.   
  
The Window of Worlds, an open door into a thousand parallel realities. If I could not find that which I was searching for within my own galaxy, then perhaps another reality would bear more fruit. The Cryptek was aghast of course when I initially suggested such an idea, but when I reminded him of his lord’s orders, his tune changed quite quickly.  
  
 _This is all starting to sound rather convenient  
  
To your young and uneducated mind, perhaps. To one who has lived for millions of years, you learn that coincidence is quite rare._  
  
Thus, I was brought to the Window of Worlds and… admittedly disappointed. Window was an apt description, as the portal would be quite impossible for any necron of reasonable stature to fit through. It was easy to see how the Celestial Orrery could easily overshadow such an… unassuming device. Yet it was here that I may have finally found the cure to my boredom.  
  
I let the Cryptek operate the Window, I was under no illusions of my expertise in the field of parallel manipulation, and merely observed the myriad of catalogued realities. It was through this window, that I eventually discovered your world, Taylor Hebert.   
A world on the brink of collapse, but untouched by the true conflicts that wrack my own. A world were men and women play at god, with no heed of their consequences or understanding of the past. A world doomed to destruction one way or another. The perfect world for my holiday.  
  


***

  
I stared at the ske- at Trazyn long and hard, debating if I had gone nuts again. A small part of me felt insulted by the way he described my home. The rest of me was trying to wrap my mind around everything he had just told me.  
  
“So, let me get this straight.” I said. “You’re a 60 million year old, extra dimensional alien robot, you run around stealing things and throwing them into museums, and your idea of a vacation is heading to a world you describe as ‘doomed to destruction’. Is that about right?”  
  
Trazyn chuckled, “That is indeed what I said, yes. You are, at the very least, observant.”  
  
“I try.” I folded my arms and sat cross legged on my bed. “Okay, that explains why you’re here. But why are you in my head?”  
  
Trazyn lifted a finger, paused, and then, I swear to god, somehow managed to look embarrassed. “Ah, well. As I mentioned, the Window of Worlds is not a large construct. I could not have properly fit through into your realm. So I improvised. Which is where you come in my dear. I do apologize for this next part.”  
  
“What part-” I started, and then shuddered. A tingling sensation started at the back of my head where my headache had started, and ran down my spine and through my limbs, leaving goosebumps in its wake. I shook myself and blinked stars out of my eyes.  
  
“What… what just happened?”  
  
Trazyn stared at me, and I felt another tingle. I shuddered and glared at him, “Stop thaaat~! It tickles!”  
  
“Oh dear, that’s not right at all…” Trazyn rubbed his chin while staring at me.  
  
I glared at him in return, “What’s not right? What are you trying to do?”  
  
“Well, I suppose now it’s not-”  
  
“Don’t pull that with me!” I interrupted before he tried to weasel his way out of an explanation. “What did you try to do to me?”  
  
Trazyn folded his free arm under his cloak and glared at me. “Your memory would suggest that you wouldn’t be this stubborn. You certainly never stood up to that awful ‘trio’ you hate so much.”  
  
“They can physically hurt me. You’re a hallucinated metal skeleton that likes the sound of his own voice way too much.”  
  
“Fair enough.” Trazyn growled. He sighed and shook his head. “Fine. If you must know, when I realized that I could not physically enter this world through traditional means, I copied my personality and implanted it into a swarm of mind shackle scarabs. This swarm was supposed to find a suitable host, allow my consciousness to temporarily override it, and allow me to build a proper body here. In a few decades, the original me would return, I would fuse with my originator, and I would be able to relive and reminisce over this holiday at my leisure, should I ever become bored. But, something has clearly gone wrong, because my attempts to seize control are failing.”  
  
On one level, pure rage felt like a pretty appropriate response. On another, horror and terror at the thing living in my head also felt pretty good. I think those two trying to come together cancelled each other out. All I could muster was a glare at Trazyn, and a sneer.  
  
“Well I’m sorry to tell you, but my body isn’t something you can just take, asshole. If anything, this serves you right.”  
  
Trazyn rolled his electronic eyes, “Oh please, you would have been perfectly fine. A little worn out and tired when I was done, but I wouldn’t have _intentionally_ killed you.”  
  
“Uh huh. Right. Well now you’re stuck in my head with no control. How’s it feel having your sick little plan blow up in your face?”  
  
“Annoying.” he said.  
  
Then his head perked up, which immediately made me worry. “And, intrigued.”  
  
I leaned back on my bed, slowly putting distance between myself and him. “Intrigued… how?”  
  
Trazyn clapped his hands together and chuckled, “My dear, I believe we can come to a proper arrangement to deal with this situation. How does the idea of playing hero sound?”  
  
I paused, and blinked, “Pardon?”  
  
Trazyn gestured at the scarab lying next to me, that I had completely forgotten during his little story. “While I am no Cryptek, I do keep an encyclopedic knowledge of necron technology on hand in case I ever find myself in a situation separated from my forces. With a single scarab, I could feasibly build whatever I needed, with enough time. I was able to call the scarab here, but I can’t control it, much like how I can’t control you.”  
  
He laughed, “But, if you accept this deal, Taylor Hebert, I can teach you. Teach you how to use our technology for whatever means your heart desires. On one condition. Help me expand my collection. Your world is ripe with living history; it would be a pity to see it lost to the sands of time forever.”  
  
My mind was racing. There was no way he was serious. He went from trying to take over my mind to offering to work with me way too fast, this felt like a trap. On the other hand, Trazyn’s entire goal seemed pretty simple and basic. Fulfilling my end of the bargain might not be that difficult. I mean, come on, he came from a race that could apparently build models that could manipulate reality itself; who knew what other toys he had!  
  
Okay, calm down Taylor, don’t let yourself get distracted by the shiny things. It seemed like a good deal, but I needed more details before signing off on it.  
  
“That depends. What would I be collecting?” I asked.  
  
Trazyn shrugged, “Anything honestly. Technological wonders, landmarks, religious artifacts, examples of your ‘heroes and villains’. I’m not particularly picky to be completely honest.”  
  
I nodded slowly, “Okay. Then I have a few ground rules. I’ll accept your deal, on these conditions: No killing, no going after heroes, and no kidnapping political figures. I don’t want to piss off a dozen nations just because you decided you ‘had to have’ their leadership for your museum.”  
  
God this situation felt surreal. Wasn’t I supposed to be in high school taking an algebra quiz right now?  
  
Trazyn rubbed his chin again, and chuckled, “Oh, very well. Given the circumstances, I can’t really afford to argue, can I?”  
  
“No, no you can’t.”  
  
“Haha! Then it’s a deal!” he offered me his hand. Which I noticed had very long and pointed fingers, almost like claws.  
  
I reached out and passed my hand through his a few times and looked at him, brow raised. Trazyn shrugged. “Good enough for our purpose. Personally speaking, I think we may have borne witness to a very lucrative partnership, child.”  
  
A pit of dread formed in my stomach. What had I just signed myself up for?


	4. Traveling 1.3

**Traveling 1.3**

  
_Monday, January 10th, 2011. Brockton Bay_

There were benefits to having Trazyn living in my head, I won’t deny it. I mean, don’t get me wrong, he was a rude, presumptuous, selfish, sarcastic asshole that was in love with the sound of his own voice. But, he was apart of a packaged deal; so yes, I had to put up with him, and in return I gained access to all the shiny toys he had at his disposal.

For the moment, this was limited entirely to the lone scarab that he’d summoned to my house. I named him Khepri, and he was kind of adorable even if he (or it as Trazyn insisted, though I didn’t hear any complaints about the nom de plume) was just a basic machine. Apparently though, _he_ was some sort of deconstructor/constructor drone that could theoretically recreate anything that the Necrons had made, so long as he had access to sufficient energy.

I had been skeptical at first when Trazyn told me that they had apparently mastered the art of converting energy into matter and vice versa, until he had given me an example, and guided me on how to direct Khepri. This was where our alliance became necessary; Khepri was a simple machine and should, supposedly, be easy to control. But he required the proper interface to function, which I obviously lacked.

However, Trazyn could act as a translator. What I mean, is that he could use the… implants that he’d augmented me with, to transmit my thoughts to Khepri, until we built a proper interface, which was the first thing I ‘ordered’ him to do. The only reason Trazyn couldn’t do this himself, was that he lacked the ‘processing power’ to send more complex commands. All of my implants were dedicated to storing his personality and archives. My wetware was going to have to provide the extra boost to send anything more complicated than a ‘come hither’ command. Well okay, it was more complicated than that, but that was the basic gist of what he told me.

For my first command, I opened up the side of my PC and ordered Khepri to get work upgrading it. The computer was practically ancient by modern standards, and I rarely used it save for browsing PHO forums and typing up the occasional paper. Trazyn assured me that he Khepri could upgrade the systems quickly, and that I’d be able to understand whatever software it was that Necrons used.

Khepri perked up when I gave the order, made an affirmative chirp, and fluttered over to the exposed innards of the PC, his little legs wriggling with movement. A bright beam of green light shot from the underside of his little head, and wherever it touched, the internal components simply vanished. A faint green glow emanated from the edges of where the spotlight touched, but it moved surprisingly fast.

It took less than a minute for the scarab to strip the entire case of components, leaving only a bare metal box behind. Then it settled itself down inside with its legs spread, and emitted a darker beam. I jumped in surprise when tiny bolts of lightning crackled from the emitter, and something new took shape.

Unlike the deconstruction process, the construction time was far longer. What appeared to be some sort of smooth black stone was taking shape beneath Khepri’s brilliant light, but it was at a pace significantly longer than the initial destruction had taken.  
I leaned back on my bed and glanced up at Trazyn. “How long should this take?”

He rubbed his chin thoughtfully.“Converting matter to energy is quite basic, if one knows the proper way of doing it. But converting energy to matter is a bit more of a delicate process. If either fails, it could create quite the spectacular explosion. So, best not to rush it.”

I gulped, and found Khepri a little less cute now. The little robot paused, chirped, and then resumed building. Okay, only a _little_ less cute. I folded my arms and legs and thought for a moment. Given what Trazyn had told me, a Necron computer of equivalent size to my old one was probably going to be faster and more powerful than literally anything on the planet. Which raised the question of what exactly I was going to _do_ with it.

Again, I looked up at Trazyn and asked, “So, your tech. It _is_ compatible with human technology right?”

Trazyn sighed and rolled his eyes, “As compatible as one can be with a rock that’s been tricked into thinking, but yes.”

“Okay, good,” I said, ignoring his sarcasm. “So, could we use the computer Khepri is building to… I dunno, make some sort of Necron virus that could mess with a database?”

He paused, and his eyes grew distant, a sign that he was in thought. Despite the lack of a real face, he could be surprisingly expressive with his eyes and posture. When he spoke again, his voice had taken on an almost mischievous tone, “Yes, yes we could. Why do you ask, child?”

I rolled my eyes, “First, it’s Taylor. If we’re going to be partners, we should at least show _some_ respect toward one another.”

Trazyn stared at me blankly. I returned the stare, and my room was silent save for the hum of Khepri and the clicking of his metal legs against the computer case. Finally, Trazny chuckled and said, “Fair enough, Taylor. I suppose common courtesy is only fair. Now I repeat myself, why do you ask?”

I gestured around me, “Well, the way I see it, if we’re going to actually going to make any real progress, I can’t be wasting my time at that hellhole Winslow. But I can’t exactly just drop out either without my dad knowing and I don’t think I’m quite ready to tell him about the alien robot living in my head.”

“I’ve interrupted enough family engagements in my time to know I have no desire to interrupt another,” he agreed.

“So, we obviously need a way to get me out of Winslow without anyone knowing I left. I don’t have much of a presence there, so all I need to do is make sure my grades and absences are consistent for the rest of the year. Could we make a virus that does something like that?”

Trazyn laughed, “With the pathetic excuse for computer science your species uses? Absolutely. It may take some time to fabricate the virus, as again, you lack the implants for proper-”

“We’ve been over this, I’m not adding anymore implants to myself.” I interrupted.

He waved a hand, “Yes, yes, I know. My point being, it could take a few hours, even with my guidance, for you to code a virus that could do as you’ve suggested. It will be a very boring process.”

“Great!” I clapped my hands together, “Then when Khepri is finished, we can get started!”

It took Khepri about thirty minutes to ‘build’ my new PC. The result was several large ebony blocks arranged in neat rows inside my computer case, each one perfectly lined with glowing green lines of energy. A tiny hollow cylinder was based at the bottom of the PC case, about as wide around as the palm of my hand. According to Trazyn, that was the ‘reactor’ and it was generating enough power to keep my entire neighborhood lit up for a week. Or to run the equivalent of a necron PC for a few hours. Necron power and how they got it was… weird, and I didn’t understand it. Trazyn insisted I eventually would, but at the moment it was gibberish techno babble mixed with poetry. So utterly alien.

Regardless, with Trazyn’s help, I was able to power on my new PC with but a thought. Two emerald screens flashed before me, one the size of my old monitor and the other forming keys in the Necron language. That I immediately understood and recognized.

I glanced from my chair up at Trazyn, “Is this because of you?”

He nodded, “I am in your brain. I can directly upload certain knowledge to the appropriate portion of your mind. Of course, this is a slow process, and I am being very cautious about it. It’s easy to impart basic knowledge like this, but something more complex could risk damaging your more delicate components.”

The thought of being rendered brain dead by the alien equivalent of an outhouse blueprint being uploaded to my brain certainly would rank high on the list of embarrassing ways to die. So I nodded silently instead, and reached out to the holographic keyboard. To my fingers it felt real and solid, like it was actually there. I almost instinctively knew that the keyboard was being projected by the computer, but that I could only see or interact with it because of my connection to Trazyn. Without him, it would just be a really large fancy paperweight.

Necron coding was just like human coding it turned out. In that it was complicated, confusing, and made my brain hurt. The difference was that I had that innate understanding as a result of Trazyn feeding me information as he taught me. I learned the ins and outs of how their computer technology functioned, how to start work on the virus, and even how to issue commands to Khepri via the interface. With a little practice and advice from Trazyn, I set the little robot to work again while I worked on that virus.

Honestly, what Khepri was working on was far more interesting than the lines and lines of code I had to assemble. If I got good enough at this, Trazyn insisted, I could eventually create simple intelligences to handle things like this for me, but he was fairly certain that that wasn’t going to happen any time soon. So for now I was stuck tediously typing at my haptic keyboard, stopping only for the occasional bathroom break and snack.

About two or three hours after my lunch break, Khepri made a chirping sound that signaled he’d completed his task. I let out a sigh of relief and rolled away from my computer to him. When I had set him on his little task, I’d given him an appropriate amount of mass to construct the device that Trazyn had suggested. A few old clothes that I had long grown out of and some old boxes had gone into the thumb sized talisman that I rolled between my fingers.

“It looks rather… plain.” I said. It was made of the same smooth black stone as my pc (I was noticing a trend) and a single green line ran around its thin edge. A rune flashed faintly along its surface, pulsing at my touch.

“It is the equivalent of a child’s trinket.” Trazyn explained, “But, a phase shifter will certainly be useful to you in the event of an emergency. This one can only hold enough energy for about a solid minute. You won’t be able to use it again for another 24 hours afterwards.”

“What’s the maximum one of these can last?” I asked. A phase shifter, if the name wasn’t obvious, was a device that shifted someone into another ‘phase’ of reality, and rendered them completely invulnerable, and ethereal. Necron constructs used them to make repairs to delicate machinery, so there was no need to remove panels or machinery to get at a broken part. The obvious usefulness of such a device had not been lost on me.

Trazyn shrugged, “Oh one minute believe. The larger the surface area it has to cover, the more power required obviously. But the larger ones can recharge within a few minutes, so long as they are connected to a quantum network.”

Right, another item to add to my long list of things to build. A quantum network was basically a Necron power grid, only using quantum technology, duh. Their reactors would naturally form these networks over insane distances, and could use them to amplify their individual power. The more generators in a network, the greater the range and the greater the overall power. It was a quadratic effect, not a linear one, and was much higher on the list than other items, as cool as a ‘Doomsday Ark’ sounded.

I folded my hand around the talisman and stood up facing the mirror hanging from my door. Despite the bags under my eyes, I was smiling. My grin grew a little wider, “Right then! Well, let's test it so I know how to use it in the future.”

“Of course.” Trazny agreed. “If you wish to use the talisman as you are, you simply need to make contact with it and say ‘phase’ aloud. Just the word, if you say it in a sentence or as part of another word, it won’t work. Otherwise one could accidentally activate it simply while in conversation.”

Seemed simple enough. I held up the talisman and focused on its smooth edges. My heart hammered in my chest, from nervousness, excitement, from both! The computer had been cool, but this was something far more unique.

“Okay, here we go. Phase!” Emerald light flashed in the palm of my hand, and a tingling sensation like goosebumps ran over my entire body, making me shudder. And then my clothes promptly fell off me in a pile on the floor, leaving me standing naked in the middle of my room.

I screamed and covered my bits, while Trazyn clucked his tongue, “Oh my, that wasn’t supposed to happen.”

“No shit!” I shrieked, and fumbled for my clothes.

“Taylor, wait-” Trazyn started, too late.

My hand passed through the floor, and I tumbled through my room’s floor and landed on the front porch in a heap. Oh right, phase technology. I groggily got to my feet, wrapped an arm around my chest and tried running into the house through the wall, and faceplanted into the front window and fell back on the ground.

“Minute time limit, remember?” Trazyn said as he appeared beside me.

“Fuck off!” I hissed while scrambling off my bare ass and running for the door. My face was flushed a brilliant shade of crimson and I sincerely hoped that no one in the neighborhood had seen that. Also, thank _god_ dad was still at work, I had no idea how I’d even begin to explain that to him.

I ran back inside and slammed the door behind me before scurrying back upstairs into my room. It took all my willpower not to chuck the damn talisman out the window in frustration.

“Okay Trazyn, what the hell?” I demanded. This time, I was much more cautious about picking up my clothes, until I was sure I wasn’t going to fall through the floor again.

Trazyn reappeared in front of me as I pulled my underwear on, and said, “The talisman’s effects only work on what it considers to be a part of your ‘body’. Your clothing is not, therefore it phased through you when you activated it.”

“And you didn’t think to mention this before I used this?” I snarled while hopping into my pants.

“Taylor, I have not had to get dressed in over 60 million years. The thought literally never occurred to me.”

I grumbled and glared at him, but couldn’t argue with his point. Instead I sighed and rubbed my temples, “Okay, fine, that's fair. How do I keep it from happening again?”

“Have the scarab build you proper equipment.” Trazyn said simply. “Honestly Taylor, it’s not that complicated.”

If looks could kill, I would’ve reduced that skeletal asshole to molten metal.

***

_Tuesday, January 11th, 2011. Brockton Bay_

So, that was a problem that I had to nip in the bud real quick. The phase taliman wouldn’t exactly be that useful if I was left nude in the middle of the city in the middle of _winter_. As mild as Brockton Bay’s weather was, that was only relative to the rest of the north east. We may not have gotten any snow in the past few days, but it was well below 50 degrees on a warm day.

Thankfully, there was an easy solution, but it wasn’t a quick fix. The metal that necrons used for their bodies, creatively called necrodermis or ‘living metal’ was easily replicable by Khepri, and could function as clothing that would properly phase with me when I activated the talisman. The reason for this was a bit more uncomfortable than I had expected.

To start with, I’d had Khepri get to work on some basic under clothes while I finished coding the virus. Living metal was evidently a bit more complex and energy intensive than the materials used in my computer or the talisman’s construction, and took longer for Khepri to manufacture. I hid him under my bed to work for the rest of the day, until dad came home late that night.

Dad’s work at the docks kept him busy even if business on the docks was slowly dying day by day. Sea trade was risky enough with monsters like Leviathan running around, but the fact that half the bay was filled with sunken ships had all but killed the industry. Dad still fought for it, but I was half convinced that he fought as hard as he did so he didn’t have to come home. It was easy to forget about how quiet the house was sometimes since… well anyway, that’s not important. Dad came home late at night, he hadn’t heard anything about me skipping out on classes that day (thank god), and went to bed a little later.

I finished my virus shortly after dad turned in, finally, and was able to take a good look at the clothes I’d set Khepri to work on. Like I said, they were underclothes: the result was a simple silvery grey tank top and short shorts that would at least preserve my modesty. Satisfied, I had tossed them on the bed, and promptly collapsed into said bed.

An entire day’s worth of coding had drained all the energy from me. I had at least been smart enough to set my alarm half an hour early, and snuck out of the house the following morning with a note for dad telling him I was heading to school early to talk with a teacher about a project before class.

The truth was, in my excitement I had stupidly forgotten to design the virus so I could just use it from home. I could fix it, but that would’ve taken several more hours of work; as annoying as it was, sneaking into the school’s library to use one of their computers for my virus was easier. All I had to do was connect the virus via USB, and let the program run itself. Don’t ask how I could store an alien computer virus in a USB drive, I didn’t quite get it either.

Once I got one of the computers booted up and running, I plugged it in and just had to wait for it to peel apart Winslow’s shitty security systems. The significantly weaker processor slowed the hack to a crawl, and I was left fidgeting in my seat. My necrodermis underclothes weren’t uncomfortable, they were in fact _too_ comfortable. I had been more than a little disturbed to find that they basically conformed to every nonexistent curve of my body on their own accord, and it felt like I was wearing nothing at all under my normal clothes. Thus, I fidgeted in my seat while the progress bar slowly inched its way across the screen.

I was nervous of course; every minute it took, was another minute I risked getting caught. There wouldn’t be a lot of kids in the library; hardly anyone used it except to get high, or sneak in a few makeout sessions (typically a mix of the two) but the risk was still there. I might’ve been able to wait until my computer science class, but that was the third period and I never wanted to sit through another day at this hellhole if I could help it.

Finally, after ten minutes of waiting, the screen flickered and shifted, taking on the familiar green glow of the necron ‘os’. Trazyn had been very insulted when I called it that, but didn’t deny that it was an apt if primitive translation of what it actually was.

As I got to work, I whispered quietly, “Trazyn, do you have any sort of enhanced senses?”

The self proclaimed curator appeared beside me, “I am, unfortunately, tied to all your sensations. I can only see what you see, and hear what you hear.”

His eyes flashed with annoyance, “I can also feel what you feel. Stop squirming.”

“This necrodermis underwear you suggested is incredibly uncomfortable,” I hissed while typing.

“That’s because its temporarily bound itself to your skin. Its less clothing and more of a second skin.”

Great, that was why I was so uncomfortable, I’d gone commando in silver body paint. I rolled my eyes and grunted in annoyance, “Anyway, can you keep watch in case anyone comes this way? This should only take a few minutes.”  
Trazyn sighed and glanced skyward, “So this is what I have been reduced to, a glorified watchdog? Very well, _Taylor_. I will keep watch.”

“You’re the best.” I chirped cheerily, ignoring the glare he shot me.

I paused and added, “Do I have to talk to you out loud, or can I just think and you’ll hear me?”

Another glare.

“Right, getting to work!”

School security, even by human standards, wasn’t exactly top of the line. Since the Necrons were quite literally millions of years ahead of us, breaking through was a breeze. I had full access to every record Winslow had filed in the last decade, and could change it all at my leisure. It took me only a minute or two to setup a constant static loop that would mark me as still in attendance and keep my grades at a steady C and B average. I had debated pushing myself up to straight A’s, which is what I definitely would have without the Trio constantly sabotaging my school work, but decided that might attract too much attention.

As I was setting this up though, a thought occurred to me. I had access to _everyone’s_ records, not just mine. That included Emma, Madison, and Sophia’s. It included the entire staff of Winslow. With a few keystrokes, I could punish them for everything they’d done. I could end their academic careers forever if I wanted to, or severely hamper them at the least.

“Well, I would certainly argue that they deserve it.” Trazyn said from over my shoulder.

I jumped in my seat and glared at him, “You’re supposed to be keeping watch!” I hissed.

He shrugged, “I can multitask my dear. As I was saying though, your tormentors have certainly earned your wrath. However, I would suggest that if you are going to act on such an impulse, be subtle in your vengeance. So many have fallen prey to grand designs in an attempt at avenging a perceived wrong. I’d rather not suffer should you follow suit.”

I raised an eyebrow at him, “You of all people don’t seem like the type to ‘live and let live’.”

Honestly, Trazyn seemed like the kind of guy that would tear an entire person's life apart to get back at them. But then again, reading him and his motives were was difficult. The necron chuckled darkly, “There is certainly nothing inherently unwise about righting a wrong. But, one must keep in mind to temper their wants with the reality of the universe they occupy. Arrogance is an insidious killer.”

I listened to what he said, and stared at the computer screen silently. His point was clear enough, I thought; if I was going to get back at these people, I needed to be smart about it. Yes I could absolutely destroy their records… but that would only be the digital copies. No doubt they had hard copies somewhere. At dad’s office, everything important that came through the computer’s was given a hard paper copy in case something happened to the digital copy. Winslow was full of incompetent people, but I didn’t think they were _that_ incompetent. Someone could put two and two together, and if they did, then there could be a whole investigation into the school network, which could eventually lead to me.

Obviously no one would ever find the virus, but that might actually make things worse. A normal hacking attempt would be one thing. A tinker trying to break in would catch the attention of the PRT and Protectorate, and then I’d have a serious problem to deal with.  
So, like Trazyn said, I had to temper what I wanted with what I could realistically achieve. I couldn’t turn them into flunky drop outs, but maybe I could at least expose the truth on what they had been up to.

After nearly two years of constant bullying, I had long since given up on telling the school about what was going on. Simply surviving day by day was easier than being turned away at the principal’s office again. Unfortunately it also meant that the trio had grown creative in their methods. Even at home I hadn’t been safe, they’d spammed me with hate filled emails from a dozen different false addresses. There was nothing I could’ve done at the time, but now with my full access to the school network…

Yup, there it was.

I couldn’t track and go through every email sent to and from the network, but I was able to isolate their specific accounts, and from there it was easy finding the false accounts they’d made and taking a catalogue of all their hate filled emails they’d sent me. I debated what to do with them, if I would send them to the school or maybe even the police.

But no, that would be too safe and simple, and they might be able to weasel their way out of it. If I wanted them to pay for what they had done, I needed to make it far more personal, a twisted mirror of their twisted minds. That was going to take time to setup properly, but thankfully time was on my side. I made copies of what I needed and started the process of downloading them. This would take longer than it had for me to ‘erase’ myself from the records, but it was only 6:45; I had time.

“Oh my, what timing.” Trazyn said.

My eyes flicked up toward the library entrance and my blood ran cold. Emma, Madison and Sophia had just walked in, casually talking to one another, Emma cackling at something Sophia had just said. They hadn’t noticed me yet, which was good, I might be able to-

No, no no!

The download, it was still in progress! The bar moved at what felt like a glacial pace, inch by agonizing inch across the screen. Two or three minutes at least to finish, stupid public school computer’s! That was practically a lifetime at the moment.

They noticed me. Emma of course, her pale eyes flickering toward me and a wicked smile crossing her lips. I froze, and sank slowly into my chair. No, no no! Why!?

Trazyn made a disgusted sound, “Pull yourself together, _child_. Is that any way for you to act in the face of your inferiors?”

I spared him a panicked glance. He stabbed his staff against the ground and I swear the room grew darker. “You are above these cretins, Taylor Hebert. They exist only to destroy and undo the work and the power of their betters. Starving beasts too weak to fight on their own. You have endured them for two years, a large portion of your considerably short life. Yet still you stand, and you no longer stand alone.”

He leaned forward, emerald eyes blazing intently, “And I will not stand as an audience to this travesty and endure childish insults. So pull yourself together, Taylor. Bide your time, _strike back_. For two years they’ve torn you down. You want to do the same to them? Now is the time to start.”

We both glanced at the computer screen. “You also have two minutes of waiting bar minimum, and I would rather you not be caught doing this. To be placed in a human prison is one experience I would rather avoid in my unlife.”

Right, okay. Stall them, I could do that. This was my last day after all, and I’d built up plenty of things I would say on the last day I’d be here. Of course, those were fun fantasies, or imaginary arguments I had in the shower (that I always won, of course). It was one thing to win an imagined argument, it was quite another to actually have to live your fantasy.

I swallowed the pit in the back of my throat, felt it crash into my stomach, and forced myself to my feet. My legs were trembling, my throat was dry, and I felt on the edge of tears. I didn’t want to do this, I really didn’t want to do this.

Madison whispered to Emma as they approached me and the two of them broke into conniving giggles. Sophia wore a sadistic grin on her face, that only grew wider as they approached. Starving beasts, yeah right, more like hungry wolves. Wait, that was the same thing.

“Hey Hebert, we thought you’d finally snapped. Daddy force you back here so he wouldn’t have to look at your pathetic face?” Emma sneered. “I don’t blame him of course, considering what you did to your mom.”

Funny thing. Rage is a hell of a motivator.

My terror and worry immediately evaporated, and I put on my coldest smile as I clapped my hands together and said, “Actually, Emma, Madison, Sophia, I was just about to come looking for you three. See, I wanted to congratulate you all.”

That made them stop, if only out of confusion. I don’t think they knew how to comprehend me being _nice_ to them.

“You won,” I said. “That’s it. Congratulations, you won. I am done at Winslow, I am leaving and never coming back. I just thought you might want to know that, since you all so obviously need a win in your lives.”

“Wha-”

I interrupted, words pouring from me in a river, “I mean, look at yourselves. Emma I know you’ve always been insecure, but this is sad even for you. You spend all your time with a brainless thug that only hangs around you so you give her an excuse to hit people, and a vapid airhead with so much brown on her nose its racially offensive. I know I wasn’t exactly the best friend, but this is almost as pathetic as you dying your hair red for, what, ten years straight now?”

Oh, _that_ was the wrong thing to say. That was really the wrong thing to say.

“Wow!” Trazyn said, “You know, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a human turn quite that shade of purple before. Your species truly astounds me with its versatility sometimes.”

“You’re _dead_ Hebert!” Emma screeched.

I bolted for the library’s emergency exit, ripping the USB from the computer as I did. Chairs went tumbling aside as the trio broke after me into a run. They’d catch me if I tried shoving the heavy metal door open, but I didn’t plan on actually using the emergency exit. At the last second, I juked left, slamming my shoulder into Madison. I wasn’t the heaviest person out there, in fact I was more bone than skin, but I was very tall for a girl my age, and Madison was very short. I practically barreled through her and went sprinting for the normal exit.

“Get her!” Emma screamed.

I stumbled out of the library into the hall, and sprinted for the stairs. The library was on the second floor, and thankfully the halls were mostly empty. Winslow wouldn’t start to fill up with students for another ten or fifteen minutes, which left plenty of open space for me to run through. Unfortunately, that applied to my pursuers too.

The library door behind me banged open three more times behind me, and I could hear the squeak of sneakers and the clack of boots. Sophia was probably the main one chasing me, I thought as I gasped for breath. I was not in great shape, and she was a track star, it was not a matter of if she could catch me, but when.

The stairs loomed ahead, thank god, and I shot out an arm to grab onto the handrail. The sudden stop felt like it was trying to jerk my arm out of its socket, before I curled inward and started stumbling down the stairs. I could hear the trio getting closer behind me.

“You can’t run forever Taylor!”

That was true, but I only needed to outrun them. I hit the bottom of the stairs and took off to my left, my sneakers squealing on the linoleum. My legs nearly went out from under me in surprise; Sophia was coming from around the corner, sprinting hard at me with murderous intent. I scrambled backwards and went sprinting in the opposite direction, hanging a right toward the rear of the school.

If I wasn’t running for my life; I might’ve thought more about how the hell she beat me downstairs, but that was a minor problem at the moment. It was obvious to me that I wasn’t going to outrun the trio, they were going to catch me if this kept up as is. Thankfully, I had my own ace in the hole.

I reached into my pocket as I ran, and felt the smooth surface of my phase talisman. Khepri had made another along with my new clothes, since the original was still charging. I was so thankful I had been smart enough to bring it, now I just prayed it would work with the living metal undies I was wearing.

An upcoming alcove between the walls of lockers came into view, and I ran straight at it. At the same time, I hissed, _"Phase!_ ” and passed straight through the wall. Darkness enveloped me as I passed through the dusty internals of Winslow high, interrupted by the occasional flash of light as I ran through several empty classes. Then I emerged into empty frigid air, and fell face first into the dirt.

“...Ow…” I grumbled. Pain filled my body, a sore aching pain that ran up my legs and my core. I rolled onto my back, panting hard trying to catch my breath. “Pain… so much pain.”

_“Oh, my apologies.”_ Trazyn said. _“It’s just, your body is in such poor shape at the moment… I may have temporarily suppressed your sense of pain while we fled from your aggressors. My control over you is limited, but that was simple enough. Alas, I could only maintain it for a few minutes.”_

“I can tell.” I gasped, and slowly pushed myself to my feet. That was a painful process, as my legs didn’t quite bend how they were supposed to and I stumbled about like I was on stilts until I was finally standing up. New addendum to my plan, daily exercise was a must. If I was going to be a hero, a quick sprint should not leave me breathless.

I looked down at myself once I was standing, and saw that my silvery undergarments had remained firmly attached. I raised an arm and let out a tired cheer, “Whoo, I did it.”

“Yeah, you go girl!” a voice called behind me. I whirled to see a group of sophomore boys walking along the street toward the school entrance, all of them hooting and hollering at me in my state of undress.

They cheered even as I flushed and ran straight for the locker rooms. I had a spare set of clothes in there, I could get changed and go home. The sooner the better, I’d only been outside for a few minutes and already the cold air had sapped all the warmth from my body. I hugged myself and my teeth were starting to chatter.

A thought occurred to me as I moved out of site of my abhorrent admirers, and it made me stop and curse.

“Fuck!”

The USB, the one with all those files I could use to get back at the trio, what I had risked a severe beating for? Yeah, it was a normal USB, no living metal or real modifications. Which meant when I activated my phase talisman, it dropped with the rest of my clothes. Which meant after all that, I still had to go back inside to get it.

****

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: And so the shenanigans begin! This chapter was actually a lot of fun to write. Silliness with Taylor and Trazyn, I got to mess around with some basic Necron tech, and even got the Trio subplot mostly out of the way already. Yeah, don’t expect too much out of them, they’re kind of a non issue in the grand scheme of things.  
> We got fun times next chapter. Also, I apologize to any computer geeks out there if I butchered anything related to electronics. I am not a sciency mathmatical tech person, and while I have an overall understanding of how things like computers work, I won’t pretend to be an expert on the details. Which is admittedly, one of the advantages of the Necron and their bullshit tech I suppose.  
> Anyway, hope y’all enjoyed the chapter. Please leave your comments and criticism below, and I’ll see you guys next time!

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: Will be updating daily, full story is available on Spacebattles.com


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